Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Fires June 9, 2022, Daily Update

Acres: 318,599 | Containment: 65% | Total personnel: 2,672 |Start Date: Hermits Peak: April 6, 2022; Calf Canyon: April 19, 2022 | Cause: Hermits Peak: Spot fires from prescribed burn; Calf Canyon: Holdover fire from prescribed pile burn | Location: Located near Gallinas Canyon | Fuels: Heavy mixed conifer, ponderosa pine, brush, and grass

Highlights: As evacuation levels change and people return to their homes, please leave sprinklers, hoses, and other equipment in place. This equipment helps protect your home, and crews will remove it when appropriate. Today, firefighters will continue to repair firelines constructed during active fire suppression. Property owners whose properties have sustained damage from fire suppression activities are asked to fill out the online Property Owner Suppression Repair Survey: https://tinyurl.com/suppressionrepair. If you are in an evacuated area and don’t know if your property was damaged in active fire suppression, we still encourage you to complete this form which will assist fire officials and the county in evaluating properties and contacting property owners.

Operations:

North Zone (SWIMT1): Yesterday, Southwest Incident Management Team 1 under the command of Carl Schwope took command of the North Zone of the incident at 6:00 p.m. Today, work continues on the shaded fuelbreak southwest of Angel Fire from Pot Creek near NM Highway 518 on the west to the private land boundary near Black Lake on NM Highway 434 and north to NM Highway 64. Crews and heavy equipment are leaving larger, dominant trees that are more resilient to wildfire and removing smaller-diameter trees and brush to slow the progression of any potential fire starts in this area and help firefighters defend surrounding communities. The construction of contingency lines also continues from Ripley Point on the northwest perimeter of the fire to the monastery along NM Highway 518. Firefighters are coordinating with Forest Service hydrologists and soil scientists to prioritize the repair of firelines constructed during active fire suppression. With hundreds of miles of fireline inside and outside of the fire perimeter, crews will focus energy on the areas of concern that have significant potential for erosion when monsoons arrive.

South Zone (SWIMT2): Higher relative humidity and precipitation have dampened fire behavior, and minimal movement is expected today. Later in the week, the fire is expected to become active again as winds increase, temperatures rise, and humidity drops. However, there are strategies and tactics in place to help mitigate it. There were no firing operations yesterday, and none are planned for today. A wildland fire module specializing in wilderness firefighting remains at Beatty’s Cabin to monitor the fire and take action if necessary. Around the control line at the confluence of Rio Valdez and Rio Mora, helicopters were used yesterday to slow fire movement as it moved out of the Trampas Fire (2002) burn scar and into Mora Flats. On the southwest perimeter of the fire, chipping work continues, and suppression repair work is starting. Crews are finishing up suppression repair on the east and will keep working on the south around Mineral Hills and San Geronimo.

Evacuations: To view real-time evacuation information around the Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Fires, visit: tinyurl.com/HermitsPeak for the evacuation map. The Ready, Set, Go evacuation guide is available in English and Spanish here: https://tinyurl.com/RSGNM

Weather: Temperatures will remain warm today with highs in the upper 70s and relative humidity increasing to between 30-90%. Winds are forecasted out of the west at 15mph, gusting to 28 mph. Scattered thunderstorms are possible over the fire area, and while there is a potential for flash flooding the risk is lower than Wednesday.

Closures and Restrictions: All National Forests in New Mexico have closures or restrictions in place due to extreme fire danger. To learn more about these closures and restrictions, visit: https://tinyurl.com/bdy5y99r. Information related to fire restrictions across public and private land can be found at: https://nmfireinfo.com/fire-restrictions/.

After Fire Flooding and Recovery Resources: After Wildfire New Mexico guide https://www.afterwildfirenm.org/ | Hermits Peak & Calf Canyon Fire Burned Area Emergency Response information https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8104/.

Smoke: An interactive smoke map at fire.airnow.gov/ allows you to zoom into your area to see the latest smoke conditions.

Fire Information: Office Hours: 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM | Phone: 505-356-2636 | Email: 2022.hermitspeak@firenet.gov

Online: inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8069/ | https://www.facebook.com/CalfCanyonHermitsPeak| nmfireinfo.com |tinyurl.com/HermitsYouTube | Santa Fe NF |